


Among Us NetNavis

by RennyBanette



Category: Among Us (Video Game), Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Everyone is sus, Gen, Imposter kills everyone, except for protoman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28203126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RennyBanette/pseuds/RennyBanette
Summary: The NetNavis play Among Us.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Among Us NetNavis

"What exactly is this game?" ProtoMan asks.

MegaMan's grin isn't entirely friendly - it's more unsettlingly excited than anything else. ProtoMan knows very little about gaming, but if MegaMan has this kind of grin on his face, he has a feeling that this particular game is probably not going to be easy.

  
" _Among Us_ is pretty popular right now," MegaMan tells him. "A lot of famous streamers play it, and it's _really_ fun."

  
"So . . . you've played it before?"

  
MegaMan nods vigorously. "Loads of times! Usually we have some spaces free so we set the game to 'public' and pick up a couple of randoms, but now that you and SearchMan have agreed to play, we've got a full game!"

  
That . . . tells ProtoMan absolutely nothing about this _Among Us_ game, but he supposes MegaMan is probably too excited at the thought of playing with all of his friends instead of just most of them to actually explain the game properly.

  
Oh well. ProtoMan's relatively good at thinking on his feet - nowhere near as good as MegaMan or his operator, of course, because they're almost frighteningly good at it - so he should be able to figure it out as he plays. Well, he hopes, anyway. This is technically the first video game ProtoMan has ever actually played - the NetBattling games at the arcade don't count, he thinks.

  
MegaMan leads him into the lobby of the game, where most of the others are already waiting. MegaMan's usual group of friends are here - Roll, GutsMan, Glide, and IceMan. AquaMan too, because he and IceMan are rarely apart. GutsMan is peering at the screen of a laptop on a nearby table, for no reason that's immediately obvious.

  
ProtoMan takes a look around the lobby. It's . . . well, it's not exactly what he was picturing. It looks almost like a room out of a space ship - a space ship from a movie, that is. It's not huge, but it's not small, either.

  
"Hey, you brought him!" Roll spots them first, a grin spreading on her face. "I didn't think he'd actually agree."

  
"Agree to what?" ProtoMan asks.

  
"To play, duh!"

  
He blinks under his visor, and glances at MegaMan.

  
"You don't seem like the type to play games, is what she means," MegaMan explains. He shrugs apologetically. "She's got a point, though."

  
ProtoMan has no objections to that, because quite honestly, he really isn't the type to play video games. The only reason he agreed to play this _Among Us_ game is because MegaMan practically begged him to, and MegaMan can get very annoying when he wants to be.

  
"Now we're just waiting for NumberMan and TomahawkMan," MegaMan says, looking around the lobby.

  
"TomahawkMan informed us that he managed to convince SearchMan to play, so they should arrive shortly," Glide says.

  
MegaMan punches the air happily. "Great! That means we'll have a full game!"

  
It doesn't take long for the last three to arrive. NumberMan shows up first, and immediately goes over to the laptop GutsMan is still peering at. ProtoMan has no idea what function that laptop serves and no one has said it's necessary for anything, so he just leaves it alone.

  
TomahawkMan appears with SearchMan, who looks faintly bemused. He glances at ProtoMan, who can only offer a shrug - it seems they're both mostly in the dark about this game. SearchMan might have a harder time than ProtoMan in trying to figure it out, since he's used to Raika's strategies and tends to excel when working with a plan rather than playing it by ear, as the human saying goes.

  
"Okay, everyone ready?" MegaMan stands at the front of the lobby, looking around at them all. Once they've all confirmed, he nods. "Right then. I've set this game to two imposters, as usual - and the normal rules still apply. Finish your tasks, and if you can confirm anyone, do it."

  
"Right!" half the room choruses.

  
ProtoMan exchanges a glance with SearchMan. What does 'confirm' mean in terms of this game? And what are these tasks that MegaMan's talking about?

  
There's no time to ask, because MegaMan hits the start button, and the game begins.

* * *

  
The first thing that ProtoMan sees is a dark screen with a word in blood-red letters above his head. 'Imposter', the word reads, and he sees GutsMan with the same word above his head nearby. They look at each other for a moment, and then GutsMan gives ProtoMan a thumbs-up.

  
And then they're dumped into the game proper.

  
It's a large room. They're all standing around a circular table with a big red button in the middle, and there are other circular tables in the room as well, but only this one has a button. A quick look at the game's HUD tells ProtoMan that the button is the Emergency Meeting button.

  
He . . . doesn't know what that means. He also doesn't know what 'Imposter' means.

  
He looks up from the HUD and sees everyone else running off. Everyone aside from SearchMan, that is, who stands there looking bewildered.

  
" . . . Do you have any idea what's going on?" SearchMan asks, after a few moments of mildly-awkward silence.

  
"No," ProtoMan replies.

  
"Ah, good. I was afraid I was the only one." SearchMan looks at his own HUD - ProtoMan can't see it, and assumes that means no one can see his own HUD, either - and frowns. "Okay . . . according to this, I have multiple tasks to complete. I have . . . no idea what any of these are. Swipe card? What does that even _mean_?"

  
"I'm just gonna . . ." ProtoMan gestures vaguely off to the side, and when SearchMan nods, he slips out of the large room and heads off down a hallway.

  
This entire thing seems to be set on a space ship of some kind. He has no idea what the space ship's purpose is, nor does he have any idea as to what he's meant to be doing as an 'Imposter', whatever that means.

  
 _I should've asked MegaMan when I had the chance_ , ProtoMan thinks. Maybe he could've asked GutsMan for some help, too, seeing as how they're both Imposters.

  
ProtoMan finds a corner out of the way and goes through a thorough check of his HUD. There's a map, apparently, which is very useful. One of the options on the HUD is Sabotage, which brings up another version of the map, but this one seems to have things he can interact with on it.

  
He peers at the Sabotage map for a moment, then shrugs and decides to see what happens if he just presses one of the buttons.

  
He jumps when an alarm rings out, and his HUD suddenly warns him that oxygen has been depleted. Okay, so apparently the button he pressed sabotages the oxygen. That's . . . unsettling, but good to know.

  
ProtoMan banishes the Sabotage map and brings up the normal map, using it to guide him toward the room labelled O2. That's where the oxygen should be, right? He's the one who sabotaged it, but hopefully he can fix it, because it wasn't exactly intentional.

  
When he gets to O2, he finds Roll and Glide in the doorway, hesitating to go inside.

  
"But what if one of the Imposters is waiting for us in there?" Roll is fretting. "Or- or what if _you're_ an imposter?"

  
"That's absurd, I would know if I were the Imposter," Glide argues.

  
"Um," ProtoMan says.

  
They both jump and whirl around. Roll looks relieved to see ProtoMan, which he doesn't understand because he's the one who did this.

  
"Oh, thank the maker," Roll sighs. "ProtoMan, come into O2 with me - we need to fix it before the oxygen runs out."

  
"Uh . . . sure?"

  
What is going on? Doesn't she know he did this?

  
Or . . . maybe she doesn't. Maybe that's the point - no one knows he's an Imposter, and no one knows he's the one who sabotaged the oxygen. The only reason Roll is assuming he's innocent is because he's never played this game before, and apparently that places him above suspicion.

  
ProtoMan fixes the oxygen he sabotaged with Roll's help - apparently you need two to do this, because the other code to fix oxygen depletion is in another room. It's a good thing Imposters really can fix their own sabotages, otherwise ProtoMan would've been found out immediately.

  
Glide vanished while they were fixing the oxygen, and Roll heads off with a quick goodbye. There's not much else that ProtoMan can think of doing, so he wanders off in the opposite direction.

  
He comes across a few of the others while he's wandering. The excuse 'I'm trying to work out where things are' is ridiculously effective, so much that ProtoMan almost laughs every time it works.

  
He decides to see what some of the other buttons on the Sabotage map do. He's in a hallway near a room called Electrical at the moment, so he heads inside. There are two buttons for this place - he's not sure why. One of them is probably an emergency Sabotage, right? And if he presses that one while he's in here, he can fix it immediately, no harm done.

  
So he presses one of the buttons, and the doors close.

  
"Ah!"

  
He whirls around, startled, and sees TomahawkMan staring at the doors with wide eyes. After a moment, he looks at ProtoMan, and there's not a trace of suspicion in his gaze - just worry.

  
"Alright, stick close to me," TomahawkMan tells him. "One of the Imposters must be trying to catch us off-guard in here. Come here a second, I wanna show you something."

  
Mystified - and a little more than relieved that TomahawkMan didn't see him closing the doors - ProtoMan follows the other Navi around a wall.

  
"See that vent, in the corner?" TomahawkMan points to it. "Imposters can use those to get around the map faster. Crewmates like us can't use them, so if you see someone venting - that's the term people use when an Imposter uses the vents - anyway, if you see someone venting, that means they're the Imposter."

  
"Right," ProtoMan says, nodding and filing away that information. So he can use the vents, that's good to know.

  
Especially if he accidentally locks himself inside a room with someone else. He just has to make sure the other person doesn't see him . . . venting.

  
"I'll keep an eye on the vent," TomahawkMan says. "You check the doors, tell me when they're open, alright?"

  
ProtoMan nods and leaves him to it. By chance, he glances at his HUD, and sees that a 'Kill' option has suddenly been highlighted.

  
He glances at TomahawkMan, still watching the vent, and then looks back at the Kill option. He reaches out-

  
And the doors open with a sudden _swish_ , startling him.

  
"Doors are open," ProtoMan quickly tells TomahawkMan.

  
"Oh, thank the maker," TomahawkMan mutters, backing away from the wall and the vent. "Alright, just keep a lookout, okay? There's a bunch of vents everywhere and the Imposters can close doors whenever they want. I'll see you soon!"

  
He runs off out of Electrical, leaving ProtoMan on his own once more.

  
ProtoMan blinks under his visor and looks at his HUD again. Kill is no longer highlighted, but it's still there - he didn't notice it before now because he wasn't paying attention to it.

  
Okay, so . . . based on whatever information he's managed to gather, Imposters can cause emergencies like the oxygen thing, and are able to close doors in certain areas. According to TomahawkMan, they can use vents to travel around the space ship - or map, whatever it's called. And if that highlighted option means exactly what it says, they're also able to kill Crewmates.

So what's his role supposed to be, as an Imposter? Kill the others? Sabotage everything until someone fails to fix an emergency in time?

  
He definitely should've asked for an actual explanation of the game before he agreed to play. Or at least he could've tried to get MegaMan to tell him something other than how popular the game is.

* * *

  
He discovers a room labelled Security, and finds IceMan standing guard in the doorway. Just around the corner, deeper inside the room, ProtoMan can see AquaMan looking at a large monitor. He seems to be concentrating very intensely on it.

  
"Hi, ProtoMan!" IceMan, just like Roll and TomahawkMan, doesn't suspect ProtoMan of being an Imposter at all. "AquaMan's just watching the cams."

  
"The . . . cams?" ProtoMan repeats, peering a little closer into the room. He sees the Kill option being highlighted while he's standing near IceMan.

  
"Security cameras," IceMan clarifies. "He always likes to check them out for a little while during each round, so I stand guard and make sure the Imposters can't get at him while he's on cams. There's a vent in the corner of the room there, see? And since I'm in the doorway, that means I've also got a good vantage point for anyone trying to sneak in through here. We've already confirmed each other using the MedBay scan, and we always stick together anyway, so-"

  
ProtoMan presses Kill, and his body moves on its own.

  
He grabs IceMan's head and twists it around until the neck snaps, and then IceMan's body is cut in half by an unseen force, leaving nothing but the lower half standing. The legs wobble for a moment and then collapse.

  
ProtoMan backs away, stiffening with shock.

  
He . . . didn't expect that. He's not sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that. He looks up and down the hallway for a moment, terrified that someone heard him snapping IceMan's neck, and then remembers that AquaMan is still inside the room and probably heard it.

  
ProtoMan scrambles away, heading down to Electrical. It's out of the way and he can hide around the wall, out of sight, and hope that no one finds out what he just did.

  
A few minutes pass by, and ProtoMan is just starting to relax when an alarm rings out sharply, making him startle badly. His HUD screen tells him that a body has been found, and he recognises it as IceMan.

  
He suddenly finds himself all the way back in the Cafeteria - the large room with all the circular tables - sitting at the table with the Emergency button. Everyone else is here, too, aside from IceMan.

  
If he didn't already feel bad enough about killing IceMan like that, he feels even worse when he sees AquaMan crying. Not bad enough that anyone's worried he'll flood the game with his tears - literally - but definitely enough to make ProtoMan feel incredibly guilty.

  
"AquaMan-" MegaMan begins.

  
"S-s-someone ki-killed IceM-Ma-aan!" AquaMan howls. "I f-f-found his b-body in- in the d-d-doorway of- of Security, an-and I- _waaaah_!"

  
"Oh, AquaMan," Roll sighs in sympathy.

  
"Did you see anyone running away?" NumberMan asks him. "Or did someone vent in the room?"

  
AquaMan shakes his head. "I just- I c-came off cams, and . . . and his body was . . ." He sniffles.

  
ProtoMan glances over at GutsMan, whose eyes are wide. They both know they're the Imposters, of course - so why is GutsMan looking so surprised? Did he not expect ProtoMan to be able to figure out what to do? Or maybe he just didn't expect ProtoMan to kill someone so randomly.

  
Honestly, ProtoMan is surprised at himself too. He had the perfect opportunity to kill TomahawkMan in Electrical, but he barely knew what he was doing. When he killed IceMan, he hardly had any more idea as to what he was doing then either, because it was basically just a spur-of-the-moment thing.

  
"Okay, so, let's go over who was where and-" Roll begins.

  
"Wait," ProtoMan says.

  
Everyone turns to look at him. He opens his mouth, intending to admit his guilt - because he really doesn't like the idea of making one of his friends cry.

  
"The Imposters can kill people?" comes out instead.

  
ProtoMan has no idea what he's doing anymore.

  
MegaMan winces. "Ah, right, I honestly forgot we've got two new players . . . Maybe we should've explained the game before we actually started."

  
"That would've been _nice_ ," SearchMan grits out. "But do you know what would've been better? Knowing that the Imposters can kill people before someone was actually murdered."

  
"Sorry, that's our bad," MegaMan says sheepishly. "Yeah, the Imposters can kill people - that's their goal. They have to kill as many Crewmates as possible until the number of Crewmates is equal to the number of Imposters."

  
"So how do we beat the Imposters?" ProtoMan asks. Why is he lying? He'd just been ready to confess to the murder, and yet here he is, pretending he still has no idea what's going on.

  
He is terrible person.

  
"There's two ways for the Crewmates to win," MegaMan begins. "The first way is to complete all of the tasks we've been given. You can still complete tasks even when you're dead - you just get turned into a ghost. No one else can see you or hear you, though."

  
Oh. That's . . . not very comforting. Is IceMan's ghost wandering around right now, cursing ProtoMan for killing him?

  
"The other way for Crewmates to win is by voting out the Imposters." Glide picks up the explanation from there. "Of course, it is not guaranteed that we will be able to figure out who the Imposters are, and we may end up voting out a Crewmate rather than an Imposter."

  
"What happens to the people who get voted out?" SearchMan asks cautiously.

  
"It varies depending on the map," Roll says. "This one's the Skeld, so whoever gets voted out is shoved out the airlock and into space. We can only vote out one person per meeting, as well."

  
"Alright then," SearchMan says thoughtfully. "That sounds simple enough. Is the Imposters' goal only to kill all the Crewmates they can?"

  
"They're also able to cause sabotages across the map," NumberMan replies. "Do you remember shortly after we began, when there was that oxygen depletion emergency? One of the Imposters caused that. If the emergency isn't fixed in time, the Imposters succeed in killing everyone, and the Crewmates lose automatically."

  
"And the Imposters can also close doors to trap people!" TomahawkMan quickly adds, sticking his hand high into the air. "I told ProtoMan about that and about the venting thing, too."

  
" . . . Venting?" SearchMan looks completely confused.

  
"Imposters can go into the vents to move around the map faster," MegaMan explains. "Since Crewmates can't do that, if you see someone venting, they're definitely an Imposter."

  
SearchMan nods. "Alright then. This information would've been nice to have before we started, but better late than never, I suppose."

  
It definitely is useful. At least now ProtoMan understands what he's supposed to be doing as an Imposter.

  
But how is he supposed to hide that? If the Crewmates are supposed to win by finishing all their tasks, it'll look suspicious if he's just running around and doing absolutely nothing.

  
"Can Imposters do tasks?" ProtoMan asks.

  
"They can't," Roll says. "They can fix their own sabotages, but they can't do any of the tasks. That's what MegaMan meant by confirming, at the start - there's one task that can pretty much confirm anyone who does it. The MedBay scan is really useful, and you can watch someone do it to confirm that they're safe."

  
"That's wh-what me and I-IceMan did," AquaMan murmurs.

  
"But the Imposters can pretend to do tasks," MegaMan says. "That's why it's hard for people to figure them out. Really good Imposters can go completely undetected purely because they know how to look like they're doing tasks."

  
Except ProtoMan doesn't know any of the tasks, so that information is kind of useless to him. Maybe he can follow one of the others around and watch what they do with their tasks - copying someone shouldn't be too difficult, after all.

  
"Alright, I think we'll have to skip this vote," MegaMan says, glancing at the Emergency button. "We're not really getting anywhere, and we've spent most of our time explaining the rules."

  
"But- but IceMan!" AquaMan protests.

  
MegaMan pats him on the head. "I know, and I'm sorry. Tell you what - I've got MedBay scan, so you can confirm me, and we'll stick together, okay? Maybe we'll figure out who one of the Imposters is so we can vote them out next time."

AquaMan still has tears in his eyes, but he nods.

  
That signals the end of the meeting, and the timer - which ProtoMan has only just noticed, actually - runs out abruptly. They'll all allowed to stand up from the table, and everyone heads off to do their tasks, or in the case of the Imposters, try and figure out who to kill.

* * *

  
ProtoMan spots NumberMan heading into Electrical, and decides to try out that strategy TomahawkMan told him about.

  
He heads inside and shuts the doors, and comes up behind NumberMan and presses Kill on his HUD while the other Navi is occupied with the task he's doing.

  
His body again moves on its own. This time, he stabs NumberMan in the head multiple times with a giant knife he doesn't remember having, and the only thing left of NumberMan is the lower half of his body, which sways and then topples over.

  
ProtoMan quickly glances over his shoulder to check on the doors. They're still closed, so no one saw him murder NumberMan, and the vent is in the corner.

  
He heads over to it, and the Sabotage option on his HUD becomes Vent. Pressing it makes him jump into the vent, and he has a choice of where to pop up, but he can see MegaMan and AquaMan near one of them, so he heads for the other one, where there's thankfully no one else nearby.

  
ProtoMan has no idea how long it will take for someone to find NumberMan's body, but he should be far enough away that no one will suspect him. He's already got a few of the others convinced that he's innocent purely because he's surprisingly good at pretending to not know what he's doing.

  
He's startled when a body is reported, and even more startled when he sees that it isn't NumberMan - it's AquaMan.

  
"GutsMan did it!" MegaMan immediately exclaims, the absolute second everyone is around the Emergency table. "He killed AquaMan right in front of me, I saw him!"

  
"GutsMan," Roll groans, burying her face in her hands. "Every single time . . ."

  
"I'm sorry, guts!" GutsMan cries. "I wasn't thinking . . ."

  
"Wait, what do you mean, 'every single time'?" SearchMan asks.

  
"He's terrible at being an Imposter," MegaMan explains with a sigh. "He always gets too eager and ends up killing right in front of someone else. Or he vents in full view."

  
"Hold on a moment," Glide speaks up, holding up a hand. He glances at the empty seat where NumberMan was sitting, last time. "NumberMan is also dead?"

  
Everyone looks shocked at that.

  
"Okay, there's no way GutsMan did that," Roll says. "No one even knew NumberMan was dead until right now. He's never been able to hide a body or anything!"

  
"If it wasn't GutsMan, who was it?" ProtoMan speaks up.

  
"We can't figure that one out, since no one knows where NumberMan's body is," TomahawkMan tells him. "The bodies get cleared away after every Emergency meeting or body report, so we can't go and check, either. Looks like NumberMan's killer goes unnoticed, this time."

  
"At least we know one of the Imposters, though," MegaMan says, giving GutsMan a pointed look.

  
"Sorry . . ." GutsMan mutters, lowering his head in shame.

  
The vote is unanimous. Even GutsMan votes for himself, because there's really no defence he can make - and he's shoved out the airlock during a brief cutscene that everyone witnesses.

  
"Wait, before everyone heads off," MegaMan quickly says, when the meeting is over. "ProtoMan, SearchMan, we forgot to mention - the Imposters become ghosts when they die, too. They can't kill anyone anymore, but they can still sabotage things."

  
"Oh, great, so GutsMan can cause a reactor meltdown or something," SearchMan sighs.

  
"Well . . . he's not that good at sabotage, even as a ghost, so we don't need to worry about him anymore," MegaMan admits. "What we do need to worry about is the second Imposter. Whoever it is, they're pretty good."

  
"I have MedBay if anyone's interested in confirming me," Roll offers.

  
ProtoMan sees an opportunity and decides to take it with both hands. "I'll do it. I don't have MedBay, but . . ."

  
"Well, we all know you're safe," Roll says, smiling at him. "If you were the Imposter, you would've gotten found out by now! Newbie players always mess up if they end up being the Imposter in their first game."

  
ProtoMan is very steadily discovering just how good of a liar he is. Or maybe it's just that all of his friends are easy to deceive.

  
Everyone heads off to try and finish whatever tasks they have, and ProtoMan follows Roll into the MedBay.

  
He's half-tempted to kill her now, but it'd look far too suspicious. After all, they agreed to go to MedBay together in front of everyone else, and ProtoMan no longer has a partner - however inept that partner apparently was - to blame things on should anything go wrong.

  
But if Roll confirms herself in front of ProtoMan, they'll stick together, and ProtoMan can kill her when they're away from MedBay. That's a solid plan, he thinks.

  
Hmm . . . actually, he has another idea. He noticed that, even though he's the Imposter, he can still report dead bodies - which, in his case, would be a self-report he supposes. So maybe he can kill Roll, give it a moment or two, and then report her body. AquaMan wasn't able to give any information aside from where IceMan's body was, and ProtoMan has already been 'confirmed' as safe, so he shouldn't be under any suspicion even if he self-reports.

  
He watches Roll scan herself, and she says she has a task to do in Electrical, which is just far too perfect. So ProtoMan follows her down, and does exactly what he did with NumberMan.

  
He's a little too eager, though. He closes the doors before Roll begins her task, and she sees it happen.

  
"The doors are-" Roll begins. Her eyes widen and she whirls around, looking at the vent in the corner, but when no one pops up, she turns back to ProtoMan with a confused look. "Do you think maybe the Imposter messed up?"

  
"I didn't," ProtoMan says.

  
"What?"

  
She realises what he means just as he makes a dash for her, and she manages to get a short scream out before he kills her.

  
This time, when his body moves on its own, his stomach splits open and a spear-like tongue darts out and pierces Roll right through the head. Like with the others, only her lower half remains, and ProtoMan glances over his shoulder to check on the doors.

  
He waits until they open, then turns back to his HUD screen and presses Report.

  
"Roll's dead," ProtoMan says, as soon as everyone - or everyone who's left - is at the Emergency table. "I didn't see who killed her, but we were in Electrical together, and I was doing one of the tasks in there. And when I was finished, I turned around and she was dead."

  
MegaMan winces in sympathy. "Oh, that could've turned out badly for you . . . Lucky the Imposter didn't kill you, too."

  
"It's a shame you have no clues for the Imposter's identity," Glide says, sighing. "Otherwise this would be much easier."

  
"Sorry," ProtoMan murmurs, lowering his head. The perfect picture of remorse, despite him being the killer.

  
He bets Roll is screaming at him right now. Along with NumberMan and IceMan.

  
"It's okay, ProtoMan," MegaMan tells him. "But we still need to try and figure this out. Okay, who was where?"

  
"Is that really necessary?" Glide wonders. "I think I shall skip this vote, for now. Considering this was in Electrical, and ProtoMan saw nothing but Roll's body-"

  
"That sounds pretty sus to me," TomahawkMan interrupts, giving him a look through narrow eyes. "Are you trying to get us all to skip so you can continue murdering us?"

  
ProtoMan's friends are extremely gullible and he has never enjoyed himself so much in his entire life.

  
"No, I'm just saying it may not matter!" Glide tries to defend himself. "The Imposter evidently vented before they could be seen, otherwise ProtoMan would have spotted them running away!"

  
"Only the Imposter would know that!"

  
"What!?"

  
"Glide, where were you?" MegaMan asks.

  
Glide looks hurt. "I was in Security, checking the cams!"

  
"That's where the vent in Electrical goes!" TomahawkMan glares at him. "You basically just admitted your guilt!"

  
"No, I-"

  
"I'm voting Glide," TomahawkMan informs everyone.

  
"Me too," MegaMan says.

  
"I did not kill Roll!" Glide protests. "ProtoMan saw nothing, so you have no proof it was me!"

  
"There's also no proof it _wasn't_ you, either," ProtoMan points out. "Sorry, but I'm voting for you, too."

  
"No!"

  
"Majority wins, Glide," SearchMan says, also voting for him.

  
"Wait a moment, what if it was-" Glide begins.

  
ProtoMan is almost certain that Glide's next words would've been 'what if it was ProtoMan', but since everyone's voted - well, Glide skipped, actually - Glide is forced out of the airlock as soon as SearchMan casts his own vote.

  
And now there's only four of them left.

  
MegaMan and TomahawkMan look shocked to see that the game is still going, and SearchMan looks deeply unsettled. ProtoMan paints a worried expression on his face and backs away from the other three, eyeing them with faked suspicion.

  
"Okay, so it wasn't Glide, and we just voted out one of own Crewmates," MegaMan says. He glances around at everyone, and then spots ProtoMan backing away.

  
"I don't know if any of you are safe," ProtoMan says. "I'm sorry. I came far too close to getting killed myself to take any chances now."

  
"I-it's okay!" MegaMan exclaims, holding out his hands. "I'm safe, remember? I did the MedBay scan with AquaMan, and he confirmed me."

  
"AquaMan is dead!" ProtoMan snaps. "How do we know you didn't report GutsMan just to get him out of the way? Everyone said he's bad at being an Imposter!"

  
"That's a good point, actually," SearchMan says, eyeing MegaMan with suspicion.

  
 _They are so gullible_ , ProtoMan thinks, fighting very hard to suppress a grin.

  
"I'm not the Imposter!" MegaMan protests. "TomahawkMan, we were in the Reactor together, all alone, right? And I didn't kill you!"

  
"You could've been on cooldown," TomahawkMan argues. "Or you were trying to make me your accomplice."

  
"You're a veteran of this game, more so than anyone else," SearchMan adds. "You'd know how to kill people and not get caught."

  
"So why did I apparently slip up now, then?" MegaMan demands. "If I'm so good, I wouldn't be under any suspicion!"

  
"That's exactly what the Imposter would say!" TomahawkMan hisses.

  
"You're throwing that phrase around a lot lately!"

  
They continue arguing, and ProtoMan adds in a few words here and there, just to spark more suspicion among them. Not once is he ever suspected, though - even SearchMan, who's just as new to this game as ProtoMan is, is being suspected of being the final Imposter, and yet ProtoMan is free to continue manipulating his friends to his core's content.

  
Eventually the arguing has to stop, because they still need to try and finish whatever tasks they have left. MegaMan storms off in the direction of MedBay, and ProtoMan follows him, casting fake-suspicious glances at SearchMan and TomahawkMan over his shoulder.

  
"I can't believe this," MegaMan mutters, heading over to the back of MedBay. He doesn't do the scan, but obviously there's another task here, too, because he's using the large monitor next to the scanner. "I was confirmed, how could they suspect me?"

  
"Um, MegaMan?"

  
MegaMan jumps and whirls around, but when he sees it's ProtoMan, he relaxes.

  
"Hi, ProtoMan," he sighs. "Don't- don't startle me like that, okay? I know you're safe, but still . . ."

  
ProtoMan tilts his head. "I wanted to ask . . . Everyone's getting pretty worked up about this. That argument was . . . intense. Is . . . is that normal, for this game?"

  
"Huh?" MegaMan looks confused for a moment, before his expression clears and he shakes his head with a smile. "Nah, it's all fun and games. No matter how intense things get in the game, we're all still friends. I'm actually pretty impressed with the Imposter this time, if I'm honest - it's rare that the Imposter in our games ever makes it this far, especially if their partner was voted out early."

  
"Really?" ProtoMan asks.

  
"Yeah," MegaMan says, nodding. "The Imposters have never actually won any of the games we play, though some have come pretty close."

  
"Huh," ProtoMan muses. "Then I guess I'll be the first to win."

  
"Yeah, maybe- wait, what?"

  
ProtoMan grins, and MegaMan freezes, eyes going comically wide.

  
"Oh, no-" he begins, scrambling back.

  
There's nowhere to go, though, and ProtoMan takes a step forward, getting close enough to activate his Kill.

  
This time, he punches MegaMan so hard that his friend actually collapses, and then pulls out an absurdly-large handgun and shoots MegaMan's entire head off. The noise is obscenely loud and ProtoMan is honestly surprised it doesn't bring SearchMan or TomahawkMan running, but then again, neither did any of his other kills.

  
ProtoMan giggles. "Sorry, MegaMan," he says, speaking to the ghost he just made. "But thanks for the compliment!"

  
He feels giddy and his grin refuses to be suppressed, no matter how much he tries.

  
Now, who's next? He knows that one more kill will end the entire game, so all he has to do now is just run around and find SearchMan or TomahawkMan. It doesn't matter if they're together. The only thing that really matters is finding them so he can kill one of them.

  
So that's what he does.

  
ProtoMan hops into the vent in MedBay, and pops up in Electrical. He can't find either of them in here, and his cooldown isn't over yet, so he just runs through the hallway until he comes out into the Lower Engine. He waits until his cooldown is over then hops into the vent in the Lower Engine, and pops up in the Reactor.

  
He's in luck. SearchMan and TomahawkMan are both in here, and they're arguing with each other.

  
"No one's suspected _you_ this entire time, either, so-" TomahawkMan breaks off when he notices ProtoMan. "Wait, where'd you come from?"

  
"MegaMan's dead," ProtoMan informs them.

  
Their eyes widen.

  
"How?" SearchMan demands. "I was following TomahawkMan this whole time and-" He breaks off abruptly, face going slack with shock. " . . . Oh."

  
ProtoMan's grin gets wider. "Oh," he agrees, voice practically trembling with glee.

  
TomahawkMan looks just as shocked as SearchMan. They exchange a quick look, and then glance at the open doors of the Reactor.

  
ProtoMan moves at the same time they do. TomahawkMan makes it to the doorway first, but SearchMan is slower than him, and ProtoMan is one of the fastest NetNavis in the entire cyberworld.

  
He presses Kill as soon as the option is highlighted, and is treated to his stomach splitting open and a spiked tongue piercing SearchMan through the head.

  
He laughs as the game goes dark, and the word 'Victory' is plastered above his head in blood-red letters.

* * *

  
ProtoMan is still laughing as he appears back in the lobby with everyone else. All of them revived from their temporary game-deaths, and all of them completely shocked and staring at him - even GutsMan, who knew ProtoMan was the second Imposter the entire time.

  
"By the maker," MegaMan says softly.

  
"What was _that_!?" Roll demands in a high-pitched voice. "You basically murdered all of us! _How_!?"

  
ProtoMan's too busy laughing to answer.

  
"Okay, so, I'm not the only one who's freaked out right now, am I?" TomahawkMan asks, looking around at everyone with an unsettled expression. "The first time he plays this game, he gets Imposter - and he pretty much levels the whole map single-handedly. And now he's _laughing about it_."

  
"He was manipulating us the entire time," SearchMan realises. "I . . . I didn't even know he could _do_ that."

  
"I was the first one he killed!" IceMan exclaims. "And he did it with AquaMan right there and everything!"

  
"He killed me, too," Roll says. "And then he went ahead and said he didn't see anything, and you guys just pinned the blame on Glide!"

  
"I was actually about to suggest that ProtoMan may have been the Imposter," Glide says mildly. "But I was voted out before I could say it."

  
"That was terrifying and frustrating to watch," NumberMan sighs. "Cold-blooded, the humans would say."

  
They all look at ProtoMan once again, and he's just about managed to get himself under control by now. He's still laughing a little bit, though, and he has to lean against the wall because he can't stand up on his own, too weak from his own laughter.

  
"You guys are so gullible," he chokes out.

  
" . . . ProtoMan, no offence, but I hope you never get to be an Imposter ever again," MegaMan says.

  
ProtoMan giggles.


End file.
